Eliot L. Engel

Eliot Lance Engel (; born February 18, 1947) is an American politician who served as a U.S. representative from New York from 1989 to 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, he represented a district covering portions of the north Bronx and southern Westchester County.

In 2019, following Democratic gains in the 2018 elections, he took over as Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee; he previously was its ranking member from 2013, following Howard Berman's reelection defeat in 2012.

He had won his first Congressional election in 1989 by defeating Mario Biaggi, who did not campaign though his name was on the ballot. 31 years later Biaggi’s granddaughter, now a New York State Senator, threw her support behind Engel’s opponent. In 2020, after 16 terms in office, Engel was defeated in the Democratic primary by middle school principal Jamaal Bowman.

Early life and education

Engel was born in the Bronx, the son of Sylvia (née Bleend) and Philip Engel, an ironworker. His grandparents, of Ukrainian Jewish background, were immigrants from the Russian Empire. He grew up in a city housing project, Eastchester Gardens, and attended New York City public schools.

In 1969, Engel graduated from the Bronx campus of Hunter College with a Bachelor of Arts in history. He subsequently received a Master of Science in guidance and counseling in 1973 from the same institution, by now renamed Lehman College following the severance of its relationship with Hunter College. In February 1987, he earned a Juris Doctor from New York Law School.

Early career

He began his political career in local Democratic clubs. He taught in the New York City School District and was a school counselor. He taught at Intermediate School 52 from 1969 to 1976, and then at Intermediate School 174.

New York State Assembly

In 1977, Engel entered the special election for a seat in the New York State Assembly after the incumbent Democrat Alan Hochberg was forced to resign. He was the Liberal Party nominee in the special election, and on March 1, 1977, he won by 103 votes, defeating Democratic nominee Ted Weinstein and Republican nominee Arlene Siegel.

Engel was a member of the New York State Assembly from 1977 to 1988, sitting in the 182nd, 183rd, 184th, 185th, 186th, and 187th New York State Legislatures. He chaired the Committee on Alcoholism and Substance Abuse, and the Subcommittee on the Mitchell-Lama Housing Program.

U.S. House of Representatives

Elections

In 1988, Engel ran for the U.S. House of Representatives in New York's 19th congressional district. His state assembly district covered much of the congressional district's southeastern corner. He defeated ten-term incumbent Democrat Mario Biaggi in the primary with 48% of the vote, as Biaggi had resigned his seat and did not campaign for office, though his name remained on the ballot since election petitions were already filed. Biaggi had been charged by Rudy Giuliani with racketeering in the Wedtech scandal, and was eventually jailed. Biaggi was unopposed for the Republican nomination (he had run on both the Republican and Democratic lines since 1972), which Engel won with 56% of the vote.

Engel's district, which became the 17th in 1993 and has been the 16th since 2013, had historically been one of the more conservative districts in New York City. Republicans represented much of its territory at the state level as late as 2004. However, reflecting the increasing Democratic trend in the Bronx at the federal level, Engel would never face another general election contest nearly as close as his first one. He was re-elected 14 more times by at least 61 percent of the vote, and only dropped below 70 percent of the vote twice. As a measure of the district's growing Democratic trend, Biaggi is the last candidate running on the Republican line to clear the 40 percent mark.

By the 1990s, as in much of the rest of New York City, the Democratic primary had become the real contest in this district. From 1990 to 2018, Engel only faced two competitive primary contests (getting less than 70%). In 1994, he defeated musician Willie Colón 62%-38%. In 2000, Engel defeated State Senator Larry Seabrook, who had the support of Bronx County Democratic Party Chairman Roberto Ramirez, 50%-41%.

In 2020, Engel was challenged in the primary by Yonkers school principal Jamaal Bowman, who ran well to Engel's left. Engel initially received an endorsement from New York State Senator Alessandra Biaggi, Mario Biaggi's granddaughter. However, in early June, after a hot mic gaffe by Engel, Biaggi withdrew her support of Engel and instead endorsed Bowman.

In a mid-June poll, Engel trailed Bowman by ten percentage points and, after the election, with early and election day votes counted, Bowman led Engel by almost 12,000 votes, 61.8% to 34.9%. Absentee ballots were scheduled to be counted on June 30, 2020, though some sources called the race for Bowman before the counting of absentee ballots. After the absentee ballots were counted, Bowman's lead was 55.4%-40.6%, or 13,218 votes. The race was called for Bowman on July 17, 2020, with the New York State Board of Elections certifying the results on August 6, 2020.

Committee assignments

* Committee on Energy and Commerce
** Subcommittee on Energy and Power
** Subcommittee on Health
* Committee on Foreign Affairs (Chair, 116th Congress) (Ranking Member, 113th, 114th, 115th Congress)

;Party leadership
* Vice Chair of the Democratic Task Force on Homeland Security
* Assistant Democratic Whip

;Caucus memberships
* Arab-Israeli Peace Accord Monitoring Group
* Congressional Albanian Caucus
* Congressional Caucus on Global Road Safety
* Congressional Hellenic-Israeli Alliance
* Ad Hoc Congressional Committee for Irish Affairs
* Democratic Leadership Council
* Democratic Task Force on Health
* House Oil and National Security Caucus (Founder and Co-Chair)

Israel Allies Caucus
* New Democrat Coalition
* House Caucus on Human Rights
* House Caucus on the Hudson Valley
*United States Congressional International Conservation Caucus
* Congressional Arts Caucus
* Congressional NextGen 9-1-1 Caucus

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